Our View: Big changes loom for homeless shelter

Any given night, about 350 homeless people find shelter in New Bedford in a number of different Catholic Social Services facilities.

Any given night, about 350 homeless people find shelter in New Bedford in a number of different Catholic Social Services facilities.

From CSS-owned units, to CSS-rented units, individuals, families and single parents find security and shelter when they have no other options.

One of those CSS options is the 25-bed Sister Rose House on Eighth Street, which Executive Director Arlene McNamee said last week is woefully inadequate for the clients served there. She likes to say that the facility's state of repair and the staffing challenges are "not respectful" of those it serves.

McNamee and Ed Allard, project manager for the CSS service Community Action for Better Housing, showed off plans to replace the Eighth Street facility with a refurbished, rehabilitated Sister Rose House at the former St. Hedwig's Parish church property on Division Street.

The change points out so many things that are right with how Catholic Social Services helps to make vulnerable people more secure.

McNamee and Allard, speaking with The Standard-Times editorial board last week, shared the plans shown here. They include five beds for single women, the relocation of the Market Ministries food services, job training and community gardening.

The total cost is $1.5 million, but this isn't a hard sell. McNamee said the new site would be a dramatic improvement in current conditions, and opens up numerous opportunities that make the plan that more valuable.

The basement at the former St. Hedwig's (CSS has a $150,000 purchase-and-sale agreement with owner Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. James Church) will be converted to provide food preparation and service, and will be used to train residents in food safety and to prepare workers to be personal care attendants.

McNamee points out that the private patio area being planned for the grounds assures that residents can enjoy the out of doors without suffering or becoming a nuisance. The community garden and raised beds are intended to bring community members into appropriate contact with Sister Rose House residents, making better neighbors and a better neighborhood. GED and ESL classes could be taught there, too, depending on the needs of the population.

She also notes that CSS projects in other parts of the city have improved neighborhoods where crime and blight have been made unwelcome.

Allard says the project is moving forward, with community support and an optimistic view of how easily CSS can gain some "zoning relief" from the city with a reclassification of the property.

Catholic Social Services is doing the valuable — and effective — job of caring for some of the most vulnerable of our community's members.

It is our hope that the city of New Bedford will be able to quickly assess the request to rezone the property so the project can move forward. Allard hopes to see construction begin in the late spring, with about nine months of work to complete it.

The whole of SouthCoast is made better by the work of Catholic Social Services, and the relocation and expansion of the Sister Rose House continues that good work.